MP3: Indurian - The Moment
(London via Sweden, 2:43 mins, 192 kbps, 3.8MB)

Indurain are presumable named after an absolute hero of mine, Miguel Indurain, a 5 times winner of The Tour-De-France cycle tour. Indurian, are half-English, half-Swedish, they record in London, and sing with English accents, so that’s good enough for inclusion here.

They exhibit a similarly temperament to the aforementioned cyclist with complete composure followed by the crucial well planned and executed explosion towards the end, winning them the stage and everyone’s heart. Indurain are indie-pop die-hards; they can climb the highest peaks and don’t wuss out by the second chorus; they could keep going all day and all night. Sweet pop music that is scattered in the clouds by Gods having a very good day: occassional keyboard notes splash on windscreens and raincoats below, eventually turning to cacophonous storms that last 20 seconds. The Gods were just messing around, they’ll leave you to it now.

myspace.com/indurainonline

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NEW LOGO!

Tags: Johnny 5 Is Alive, not-folk-music by Mike Smith
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Head and Neck Sessions provided the track of the month with Moya Moya… back at the start of november I said ” bleeps and bass engaging both sides of your brain, spinning colours and geometric shapes through your mind and making feel great again.”

It was that good that you’ll be pleased to know I have more more to provide. ‘Twelve Twelve’ might just soundtrack your favourite marine life form trying to do contemporary dance in reverse, the whales join in at 1:55 and under the water everything shimmers, reflects, echoes with all of the characters in today’s dance trying to jump from the top of every wave: it’s a marvellous thing to behold.

MP3: Head and Neck Sessions - Twelve Twelve
(Shrewsbury via London, Bristol and Southampton, 3:46 mins, 320 kbps, 8.7MB)

myspace.com/headandneck

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We got also retro with the final noise-pop hurrah from The Bridge Gang.

Ray Rumours star-jumped out of obscurity and provided my most listened to tracks with the folk-pop “Tomorrow” and “Dance of the Ghosts” which must be listened to in that order.

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Much more new music coming up in December….

Tags: Johnny 5 Is Alive, not-folk-music by Mike Smith
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MP3: Frightened Rabbit - Snake
(Glasgow, 2:32 mins, 192 kbps, 3.5MB)

Frightened Rabbit are Scottish but they aren’t gnawing at the ankles of any of their indie and pop compatriots. They’ve got a folky wisdom and an air of confidence that streams in through the windows, freshly blown out by tornadoes and hurricanes. After the winds drop, people and animals emerge from their houses and just wander, and look forward to rebuilding. Frightened Rabbits feel like renewal, only they want to build things downwards; up is so overrated, and everyone is else is way too stuck in that mind-set. But not these guys.

Frightened Rabbit are more than just caught in the headlights, and this is far from a lucky escape, their album “Sing the Greys” brims with pop songs that quickly turn melancholy into bright sunshine, without even looking upwards for inspiration.

Listen to buy and/or buy from the fantastic Fat Cat Records.

Tags: Johnny 5 Is Alive, Not London, not-folk-music by Mike Smith
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MP3: Plans and Apologies - Me Too
(Derby/ Nottingham, 2:58 mins, 192 kbps, 4.3MB)

Indie-pop has never been about big rumbling and bombastic speeches: it’s meant to be underproduced, fresh and unintimidated. Plans and Apologies succeed in this, and go on to make fantastic plans, but never follow them through (after tripping over their own expectations, and then saying sorry). These sort of tales of regret, and trying really damned hard are balanced out by lyrical charm, an intensity, and flash of pandemonium from the nigh on orchestral 6 indie piece (and that’s saying something). I spy a Glockenspiel (15 points) and uw-wu-uw-wo-uw (1:16) - there’s a lot to see and hear here.

7″ = £4.
plansandapologies.com/

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NBGL producer in mainstream media shock:

I have written an article for The Times Online, the digital home of the British newspaper. It’s “The student guide to getting music for free (and legally)“.

Tags: Johnny 5 Is Alive, not-folk-music by Mike Smith
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MP3: The Bridge Gang - London Sky Tonight (demo)
(Hackney, 2:26 mins, 128 kbps, 2.3MB)

Quite possibly the finest song of the last couple of the years. London 3-piece The Bridge Gang held themselves so well, but called it a day earlier this year and are moving on to pastures new, but as a good bye they are releasing two of their finest songs, London Sky Tonight and the intense Sarah’s Brother. The demo version of L.S.T preserves the raw pop energy of a band who gave it their all.

Jose: The Bridge Gang has really cemented all of our desires to make music and to spend our lives putting records out, that’s the best thing we all could’ve hoped for when we started the band.

Almost two years ago I said they are “a band so uncomplicated, so raw; a trio with ambitions to match their monumental style,” and I stand by that.

myspace.com/thebridgegang

You can buy the final 7″ here and hear the proper version of both track at last.fm.

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Unrelated:

A glorious 8mm skate video from 1970s Britain

Tags: Best of NBGL, Johnny 5 Is Alive, London, not-folk-music by Mike Smith
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